Talk:Dow Chemical Company

Shifting material from article page pending rewrite and expanding the referencing. --Bob Burton 15:08, 24 Apr 2006 (EDT)

On December 3rd, 1984, the company Union Carbide, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical, caused the greatest industrial tragedy in history, when a chemical leak, caused by cutbacks on safety, killed thousands of people living in Bhopal, India. Twenty-seven tons of lethal gases leaked from the Union Carbide's pesticide factory, immediately killing 8,000 people and poisoning thousands of others. The factory's safety systems were all either malfunctioning, under repair, or switched off as part of a cost-cutting excercise

Today at least 150,000, including children born to parents who survived the disaster, are suffering from exposure-related health effects such as cancer, neurological damage, and mental illness.

The abandoned factory stands in Bhopal as it did 20 years ago and continues to contaminate the soil and drinking water in Bhopal. Over 20,000 people are forced to drink water laced with alarmingly high levels of mercury, dichlorobenzene, chloroform, carbon tetachlordie and other presistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. Traces of lead and mercury have also been found in breast milk of women living in Bhopal. Many victims do not have access to appropriate medical treatment and are unable to pursue their usual means of livelihood due to illness.

To date, the CEO of the company at the time, Warren Anderson, has not been brought to trial. A very meager compensation package has slowly been finding its way to the people of Bhopal.

Click here for a list of Dow facilities. 

See also Dow Chemical entry at Knowmore.org

Memorable Dow products

 * Agent Orange is a dioxin contaminated herbicide and defoliant used throughout the Vietnam and Cambodian wars to destroy "communist" villages (i.e. those suspected of harbouring Viet Cong); dioxin is a carcinogen with lasting effects.

Two rarely told stories about Agent Orange:
 * 1) After the Vietnam War, Dow Chemical reconstituted Agent Orange to be used as a herbicide to purportedly keep high tension cable paths cleared.  This toxic chemical (millions of gallons) was sprayed in the southern Amazon region of Brazil to clear vegetated areas.  This "new herbicide," Agent Orange dried up vegetated areas which, allowed farmers to later use a slash and burn method in those same locations.
 * 2) In the 1980's the World Bank aggressively began promoting the cultivation of coffee in Vietnam. The problem is that significant numbers of coffee trees were planted in dioxin contaminated areas, resulting in further contamination of the coffee production.  NB: Several companies produced Agent Orange, e.g., Monsanto, Hercules, but Dow Chemical produced the bulk of it and stored it in enormous quantities.
 * Napalm was originally developed by Louis Fieser in 1943, and then "improved" by adding phosphorus (to make it continue to burn when doused with water) and liquid plastics (so it would stick better to skin and other surfaces).